UC Campuses Embrace Monday

January 18th, 2010

Encouraging college campuses to incorporate Meatless Monday into their dining services is a vital part of our overall mission. The University of California system is an excellent example of how colleges are bringing our program to life with spirit, humor and creativity. Whether at the Davis, San Diego or Santa Barbara campuses, students are committed to going meatless for their health and the health of the planet!

Starting in 2007, UC Davis launched Meatless Monday in its cafeterias with a flurry of posters and bulletin board announcement, as well as a menu including meatless options. The program has evolved to include a full pledge drive; students are able to sign up and pledge in dining halls or resident halls. Resident Advisors are provided with kits, containing pledge sheets and pins, and students are given these pins when they pledge.

At the end of each week, the pledges are tallied, and a poster is created for each dining room that displays the new total and how much water, fossil fuels and carbon have been saved. To support this initiative, Resident Advisors are encouraged to invite members of the school’s Sustainability and Nutrition committee to give presentations on Meatless Monday to their students. The goal is for 1,000 students to pledge by the end of the academic year – good luck UC Davis!

UC San Diego launched its own Meatless Monday program just this January. They started with a successful trial run at one dining hall, and now special vegetarian meals will be served all day at the grill of four UC San Diego dining halls on rotating Mondays. To kickoff the campaign, a colorful DON’T HAVE A COW poster is posted throughout the campus.

At UC Santa Barbara, the Environmental Affairs student board is deeply committed to raising awareness about the environmental, health and social impacts of meat consumption. They do vegetarian Monday Pot Luck events on the campus lawn, and reach out to local restaurants in Santa Barbara to encourage them to feature vegetarian menu items every Monday.